I was searching Etsy the other day for modern Christmas items and came across Byrd and Belle's hand-stitched ornaments. These unique felt decorations are inspired by iconic pieces, like the George Nelson Ball Clock, and come with very friendly price tags. These lovely pieces are handmade by Angie Davis, an architect from Minneapolis. About Byrd and Belle: The items you see are brought to you from my live/work studio on an island in the middle of the Mississippi River in downtown Minneapolis. In real life, I am an architect and I crave the simple sophistication of modern architecture and design. Couple that with my rural upbringing surrounded by domestic crafts of sewing, stitching, and just general goodness and the result is found here.

Feeling smitten? Get some for yourself (or a friend): Modern felt ornaments in the shape of your favorite chair available from Byrd and Belle from $8 - $9.

While it may not look like much, our kitchen is coming along quite nicely. Those that follow me on twitter know that the rough plumbing and electrical have been done for a while now. Just this week we finished the drywall (not me really but the subcontractor) and last night I started priming the walls. I am particularly anxious to see how the Bocci 22 outlets turn out, so this morning I took a little peek. I think they are going to be really sweet! This weekend we hope to finish all the painting, and if all goes well, install our white rubber flooring too. I'll tweet my progress, including pictures on twitter.

While there are lots of other blogs that I follow, there are only a few that I can really strongly relate to. Atomic Indy is definitely one of those. Sticking with the true grassrootsmodern movement, Barrett recently bought a nice mid-centruy home, and has been completely redoing the interior of it. He recently has been getting his kitchen finished off, which included ripping down a wall and starting completely from scratch. You can see why I relate. They were lucky enough to get most of the kitchen done by Thanksgiving, and it's looking great!

Check out Atomicindy for more remodeling fun. Also make sure you drop by 100k house to see how the modern new construction in Philly is going. They are doing a great job of building a modern green home for a reasonable budget. SIP's are up and it's really starting to look great!

Check out 100k house.

If sad looking girls with blood-red lips are your thing (who isn't into that?) then check out Caitlin Shearer's work. I think her style is absolutely stunning. One part fashion illustration, one part 'kinda creepy'. This 19 year old Australian wonder has set up shop on Etsy and offers prints of her work in the range of $4.50 - $18.99. From now until Christmas, every order comes with a 'sweet secret surprise'. So head over to her shop now and pick up "more imaginary friends than you can fit in your pockets." Caitlin Shearer prints available on Etsy from $4.50 - $18.99.

Technorati Tags: Art, Etsy, Print

When it comes to contests, I never win anything, but that certainly doesn't stop me from entering. If you are feeling lucky this month make sure you stop by Dwell.com for their Holiday Sweeptakes were they give away a new item every day until Christmas. Entering is super quick and as long as you mark that you don't want info it should be fairly spam free. Because there is a prize every day unit the 25th, it gives me 22 more days to see just how unlucky I am.

Enter the Dwell Holiday Sweepstakes here.

The super observant reader may have noticed that we have a new blogger here at Grassrootsmodern. Capree is not just an amazing photographer, but she is also an all around lover of good design. According to her bio she "is a photographer, doodler and hooligan. Though, according to some, her hooligan skills are downright shonky." I'm not quite sure just how shonky her hooligan skills are, but her eye for design is the cats meow. We are super excited to have Capree joining our little family here and look forward to having her perspective on the affordable modern world.

A few years ago I was looking around for a portfolio case that would really impress - something with a big "wow" factor. I hit the mother load when I came across Paperhaus, a supplier of top notch, unique, and incredibly beautiful portfolios. Their motto, "every presentation deserves a haus", is spot on. I ordered this portfolio at the time and it really does feel like my work is in its own little modern cocoon. Since then, Paperhaus has significantly increased their supply, carrying cases from the likes of Lost Luggage, Case Envy, and Pina Zangaro, to name a few. Though some portfolios can carry a price tag of $150 or more, there are many affordable options that still command the attention your presentation deserves. Paperhaus offers an incredible variety of presentation cases and portfolios in nearly every type of material you can imagine - acrylic, metal, wood, felt, leather, and more. So if you're in the market, check out Paperhaus for any and all of your presentation needs! And P.S. They also carry journals, writing instruments, home and office accessories, bags, and even furniture!

Technorati Tags: Art, Print

Last week we posted about a couple of different modern door options that were available. This week I got an email from April telling me about Crestviews DIY door lite kits. If you are lucky like April and already have a solid slab front door, making it Mid Century just got a whole lot more affordable. Instead of replacing the entire door, you can just add the window panes to make it look like a Crestview door. You can choose from any of their retro door designs, or come up with your own custom design. Kits start at $179 which is way cheaper than you could ever get a new door for. Installation looks pretty easy (video after the jump) and you get the satisfaction of knowing you did it yourself. If you are not the handy type (or are unlucky like me and don't have a plain slab door) and still want a Crestview door, check out their "showroom specials" that start at $800. While you're checking out Crestview doors, make sure you look at their totally amazing door-o-vision that lets you see different doors on your own house.

Door lite kits available from Crestview starting at $179.

Many of you have probably heard of Jenn Ski and if you haven't, well, you're about to. I first saw her work on Etsy after following a trail of other artists I liked. I was immediately enamored with the organic, mid-century inspired designs that find their way in to much of her work. At times it feels like you're staring at a series of amoebas - all with the most stunning color palettes! If you're feeling smitten with these quirky little shapes, you're in luck. Jenn's work is surprisingly affordable and can be obtained through her website, www.jennski.com, or from her Etsy shop. For exclusive prints, stop by Vitamin D(esign).

About Jenn:

Jenn Ski is an award-winning graphic designer and artist, with a passion for modern and mid-20th century art and design. In her work, she strives to balance these seemingly unrelated forces. The result is artwork that, while beautifully delicate, is incredibly sophisticated and, in one word, cool.

In 2007, she decided to dedicate full-time to her artwork. Jennski.com opened in June of 2007, offering her original pieces, as well as giclée prints of her digital art.

Technorati Tags: Art, Mid Century Modern, Print

Here is a great combination of shelves and wall graphics that would look great in a kids room. Designed by Thorunn Arnadottir this shelf creates a 3D tree by using various shades of green painted on the wall, as well as the abstract shaped shelving. Unfortunately there is no off the shelf solution (pun intended) if you want to make your own, but with a bit of creativity it could turn into a fun little DIY project. For inspiration check out Thorunn Arnadottir's site.

One of the things that I am really excited to do in our new kitchen is install our Bocci 22 outlets. I had seen these outlets a long time ago on Apartment Therapy, and loved the look of them. We had one spot in our kitchen that necessitated us putting an outlet in a very visible space, and we wanted to pretty it up a little. A phone call to our local Bocci dealer revealed that these beautiful minimalist outlets weren't too expensive. We ended up getting single outlets (just one plug) on accident, but I think it will turn out alright. Our price was $16 each, which isn't too bad in the grand scheme of things. One of the most expensive parts was the tool that you need to be able to remove the outlet part from the box which was $40. I had a chance to do phase 1 of the install last night so I snapped some pics. Everything went pretty smooth, and I can't wait to see what they look like after the drywaller comes today.

Congratulations to Wes from South Carolina for their winning entry "The Kitchen that Google Built". Wes was able to do an amazing job on his kitchen through a lot of hard work and searching out the best deals online. He poured his own concrete countertops and did an amazing job transforming the space. The before and after photo's truly are amazing.

Second prize goes to "Simple, Modern, Functional". It was a close race for second, and in the end it came down to just 3 votes separating 2nd place from 3rd. 2nd place winner Summer from Scottsdale did an equally impressive job of transforming her space. She was able to turn her dark south western kitchen into a beautiful open modern kitchen for just 10k.

A special thank you to all those that entered and shared their knowledge on how to redo a modern kitchen on a budget. I know I have definitely gleaned some ideas for our kitchen remodel.

Tomorrow is one of the biggest shopping days of the year. While I am certainly not the type to stand in line all night just to get a deal on a DVD player, I am always a big fan of a good sale. If you know of any smoking hot deals, or scored on some sweet goodies for you home share with us here in the comments.

We've been watching the classifieds for a while now to see if we could get any good deals on some of our kitchen appliances. We finally had some good luck the other day when we stumbled across this Siemens Avant Garde hood for only $450. It's 36" wide and normal prices are well above $1,000, so we feel like we got a pretty sweet deal. I actually really like the minimalist shape of it too. We have drywallers coming in tonight to patch up the whole kitchen, hopefully they will be done by this weekend. We will probably start painting and putting in our Roppe rubber flooring sometime next week. Things are finally starting to come together. One of the last things on the list is to order our countertops. We decided to go with laboratory counters from Trespa. At a quoted price of $15 a square plus fabrication, you just can't beat the price.

I ran across Alexei Vella's retro-styled illustrations the other day and was really impressed. His work takes inspiration not only from vintage comics and cartoons, but anything from pop art to pulp posters. Vella's work, often filled with social or political commentary, displays a certain wit and intelligence that I find irresistible.

From his website:

Alexei Vella specializes in creating images that are both striking and complex, sensual yet undeniably intellectually involving. In order to achieve this unique look, Vella employs a complex colour palette, an eclectic application of graphics and texture, and a sophisticated use of antiquated surfaces. Appropriating the colloquial iconography of popular retro forms to an emboldened modern sensibility, Vella's work has achieved international recognition appearing in a variety of exhibitions and print.

To see more of Alexei's work, go to www.alexeivella.com.

Technorati Tags: Art, Mid Century Modern

In high school I used to work at a small local toy store. We carried a lot of great products, but one of my favorites were the wooden trains by Brio. It looks like Brio is good at more than trains. If these simple wooden cribs are made as well as their other products, they are sure to be bomber. It would be interesting to compare the build quality with some of Ikea's budget cribs. The bad news is that it doesn't look like these cribs are sold at any US retailers. At £170 including mattress, it seems like it would be a pretty great value.

Available from Panik Design for £170.00. Anybody know a US retailer?

I never cease to be amazed at how much people will spend on their pets. While I admit that These Creatures pet bowls are pretty nifty, the $125 price tag seems a little insane for a piece of metal. What I did find interesting about this picture though is the countertop and backsplash. It is 100% identical to the stuff I just pulled out of our kitchen, right down to the boomerangs and metal trim.

The update on our little remodel. Rough electrical is 90%, I may actually finish it tonight, and we are getting bids on drywall. Hopefully we should be able to start painting and doing flooring the weekend after Thanksgiving. If all goes well we should be all finished up by Christmas easy. Say goodbye to boomerangs and hello to ABSTRAKT white.

Via Design-Milk

There is officially one week left to vote for your favorite affordable modern kitchen. So far it has been a pretty tight race with The Kitchen that Google built getting an early lead, then falling behind, and now surging back into the lead. Second place has been a tight race between Simple, Modern, Functional and Mid-Century Mod-ification. Ditching the Drywall is still not out of the picture either with a strong fourth place currently. Remember you can only vote once, so make it count.

Vote Here!

We started the week off with affordable modern doors, and we are ending it that way too. Shannnon Walker was mentioned in Monday's post as an affordable alternative to some of the more expensive "modern" doors available. New to the door industry, Shannon created a orange and stainless door for their modern bungalow remodel. Since then she has been designing and selling doors to people looking for a less expensive alternative. Most prices range between $800 and $1,200 depending on the number of windows. She is working on a website (doorplay.net) but it isn't ready yet. In the meantime, check out her blog.

Pics of her remodel after the jump.